Every friday I will muse on stuff that for whatever reason, never became it’s own full-fledged post. Here I will collect my random thoughts about gaming and sports and also comment about other stuff out there if I feel so inclined. Starting… now.

Fight Night Round 4 Demo Impressions

Now, I haven’t really played a boxing game in a long time. Fight Night 2004 is the last one I played for more than five minutes, so I’m hardly an expert on the genre. That said, I found Fight Night Round 4 to be really enjoyable. They’ve done a nice job honing the control scheme over the years, and it gives you a really natural feel when you’re in the ring. The demo allows you to play three rounds as either Ricky Hatton or Manny Pacquiao which gives you just enough of a taste to want more. Thankfully you can quickly select the “Rematch” option and keep boxing, rather than being kicked out to the menu every time.

The gameplay itself feels silky smooth, and offers a mix of arcade and realism. You’re not going to consistently land haymakers on your opponent but if you stun them you can wallop them with a signature punch using B. That adds a certain theatrical element to things, as does the act of recovering from a knock down. I would liken it to shooting free throws in the older NBA Live games with the sliders… only much more difficult. At least on first glance. I struggled to answer the count on more than one occasion, coming oh-so-close only to tweak the stick the wrong way and rubber-leg my way back to the mat.

EA has brought a substantial roster of boxers to the table, snatching greats such as Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and George Foreman out of their prime and rendering pixel-perfect recreations. They also seem to have addressed complaints about a lack of depth with the Legacy Mode, allowing you to create and train up your own fighter. This is a title I’m excited about and will probably pick up after it comes out at the end of June.

Activision Parting Ways With Sony?

To me this sounds crazy, but Activision CEO Bobby Kotick came out and made several comments that indicate the publisher may do just that. He expressed concern about the development costs and time investments with the PS3 as opposed to the 360 and Wii as well as Sony’s refusal to do a price-cut and high royalties fees topping $500 million in 2008.

Losing Activision titles including favorites such as the Call of Duty and Guitar Hero series would be a serious blow to the PS3 which already has issues with it’s rate of software attachment. They simply can’t afford to lose those kind of broad-appeal titles.

My gut tells me this is posturing from Activision due to their displeasure with Sony’s strategies. Most likely they have expressed their concerns privately and had them fall on deaf ears. As a result, you get public criticism. I would be extremely surprised if this actually happened.

Think Before You Speak?

Microsoft might want to invest in muzzles. Especially if high-level MS figures are going to keep coming out and talking about a “new console” coming out in 2010. Twice this week word broke that MS was developing a new console for 2010, based around a “natural interface” which was believed to be the Project: Natal device that was revealed at E3 recently.

Both times Microsoft had to come out and state that they were in fact not working on a new console and they believe that the 360 isn’t even at the halfway point of it’s life cycle. Natal will be “an important part of this platform”, but not it’s own seperate hardware as was suggested by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer earlier this week. This is good news for gamers who were ready to start firebombing the MS front offices. Surely a company this large can figure out that while they have made huge progress in the console wars this generation, their lead is fragile at best.

You get the feeling that people who don’t actually grasp the difference between a new bundle and a new console entirely are speaking out of turn here, although Microsoft is expanding internal memory from 256 MB to 510 MB on the newer Arcade units.